Saʻdī

Saadi's Bostan is one of the greatest of all Sufi Classics. It and his Gulistan (The Rose Garden) are regarded as supreme accomplishments of both literature and Sufi thought. They contain a richness of material and beauty of poetry which are almost unparalleled. The Bostan is a mine of proverbs, quotations, and practical wisdom. But like the Gulistan it contains far more than moralistic aphorisms and teaching stories. The Bostan is recognized by eminent Sufis as containing the whole range of the deepest Sufi knowledge which can be committed to writing.

The Bostan of Saadi of Shiraz

The Orchard

Saʻdī az dast-i khvīshtan faryād

Text in English & Persian. Is the Gulistan the most influential book in the Iranian world? In terms of prose, it is the model, which all writers of Persian seek to emulate. In terms of moral, philosophical or practical wisdom, it is endlessly quoted to either illustrate or prove a point. Sir John Malcolm even relates being told that it is the basis of the law of the Persians. It also travelled abroad. Voltaire, Goethe, Arnold, Longfellow, Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, and Franklin discovered, read, and took inspiration from the work. Moreover, travelers to Iran have often point out that to understand the mind of the inhabitants, one should read the Gulistan. Written some seven and a half centuries ago by Sa'di of Shiraz the Gulistan or Rose Garden is a collection of moral stories divided into eight themes: "The Conduct of Kings", "The Character of Dervishes", "The Superiority of Contentment", "The Benefits of Silence", "Love and Youth", "Feebleness and Old Age", "The Effects of Education", and "The Art of Conversation." In each section stories are told from which the reader learns how to behave in a given situation. Sa'di can be moral. "Honesty gives God pleasure. I haven't seen anyone get lost on the right road." He may be practical. "If you can't stand the sting, don't put your finger into a scorpion's hole." He is philosophical in these lines which are engraved at the entrance of the United Nations: "The members of the human race are limbs one to another, for at creation they were of one essence. When one limb is pained by fate, the others cannot rest." The Gulistan is considered the essence of elegant but simple Persian prose. For 600 years, it was the first book placed in the learner's hand. In Persian-speaking countries today, quotations from the Gulistan appear in every conceivable type of literature and is the source of numerous everyday proverbial statements, much as Shakespeare is in English. This is the first complete English translation of the Gulistan in more than a century. Wheeler M. Thackston, Professor of Persian at Harvard University, has faithfully translated Sa'di into clear contemporary English. To help the student, the original Persian is presented facing the English translation. A 3,600 word Persian-English and Arabic-English glossary is included to aide with the more difficult meanings. The Gulistan is imbued with a practical wisdom of life. Sa'di recognizes people for what they are. Every personality type that exists is found in the Rose Garden, the good, the bad, the weak, the strong, the pious, the impious, honest folk, and the most conniving of cheats. Hypocrites abound, foolish kings appear with their wily ministers, wise rulers vie with their malevolent courtiers, boastful young warriors turn tail and run. The beauty of Sa'di's wisdom is that it is timeless. What is expressed is in a setting so close and familiar to the modern experience that it is as relevant today as it was six hundred years ago.

گلستان سعدى

Majmūʻah-i ās̲ār-i Shaykh Mụslaḥ al-Dīn Saʻdī Shīrāzī

Saadis politische Gedichte

Sufi thought at its best. Sadis Scroll of Wisdom is a veritable mine of spiritual thought at the highest level. Each verse a gem of wisdom never to be forgotten.

Sadi's Scroll of Wisdom

Sadi: Gulistan Or Flower-garden

The Bostan of Shaikh Sadi

John Thompson Platts

Sa'di

a new ed. carefully collated with the original mss., with a full vocabulary

The Gulistān

The Bustan of Sadi

Kullīyāt

كليات

in two Volumes. Dewan, or book of poems

The Persian and Arabick Works ¬of ¬Sadee

ظليات شيخ سعدى شيرازى

Sadi's Gulistan mit den türkischen Commentaren von Sudi und Schem'i

Zübde-yi Gülistan

Or, The Rose-necklace, Being the Selections from the Gulistān and the Anwār-i Suhailī, Tr. Into Literal English with Copious Notes

The I̓qd-i Gul

A Compendium of Ethics, Translated from the Persian of Sheikh Sady of Shiraz

Pand-nāma

Edward B. Eastwick

Or, Rose-garden, of Shek̲h̲ Muslihu'd-dīn Sādī of Shīrāz, Translated for the First Time Into Prose and Verse, with an Introductory Preface, and a Life of the Author, from the Ātish Kadah

Saʻdī

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